The Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi has promised that the reconstruction work on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway would be completed by the first quarter of 2024.
Umahi made this known while inspecting the project to assess the progress made so far by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the contractor handling the project.
The Minister said that “insecurity and poor funding were the major challenges affecting the timely completion of the road.”
He frowned at the slow pace of work on the project awarded in 2017.
”Work on the 375.9 km dual-carriage Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road is in three phases, with phase three (Zaria-Kano) at 100 per cent completion.
Umahi said; ”The phase two (Kaduna- Zaria) was at 60% completion and phase one (Abuja-Kaduna) was only at 20% completion level.”
He said President Bola Tinubu was committed to sorting out all impeding factors to ensure that the contractor delivers the project in 2024.
“I am here on the directive of Mr. President, who has directed that I must be on-site to see most of these ongoing projects before I can put figures together.
“Mr President has asked me to assure the Kaduna people and everyone that this road is very important to him as part of his renewed hope agenda for Nigerians.
“He is committed to finishing the road, in 2024 and not 2025 as stated in the contract earlier, and we will match his word with action,” the Minister explained.
Umahi said; “We are satisfied with the quality of work but we are not satisfied with the pace of work, so we have to find out what are the problems.
“This road is very important, if it is security we will tackle it and provide security in each section where they are working and we also want to deploy solar lights on the roads.”
He expressed satisfaction with the quality of work on the road but urged the contractor to increase the pace of work, stressing that the contractor should deploy more men and equipment to other sections of the road to ensure that work goes on simultaneously.
The Minister called on the contractor to also introduce concrete in parts of the road to deliver a more durable and lasting road to Nigerians.
Umahi, therefore, appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the government in its commitment to deliver a durable road that would stand the test of time.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
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